1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a meter including meter units, such as a speedometer and a tachometer, of a vehicle or the like.
2. Description of the Related Art
There are known meters mounted on conveyances such as vehicles, ships and airplanes (hereinafter referred to collectively as vehicles). FIGS. 4A and 4B illustrate an example of a meter of this kind (see PTL 1).
FIG. 4A is a perspective view of a conventional meter. FIG. 4B is an enlarged cross-sectional view of a main part of the meter. On the conventional meter 100, meter units 200, i.e., a tachometer 200c, a speedometer 200a, and a fuel meter 200d are arranged from the left side of FIG. 4A. On the circumference of each of the meter units 200, visors 300, a light guiding member 600, and a light emitting member 700 are formed annularly. In addition, the light guiding member 600 is arranged to be sandwiched by the visors 300 (see FIG. 4B). A light source 500 is placed at a rear end portion of the light guiding member 600. A reflecting surface 600S whose distal-end-portion takes a cross-sectionally triangular shape is provided at a front end portion of the light guiding member 600. In addition, the light emitting member 700 serving as a prism member cross-sectionally triangularly shaped to form a virtual image having an annular shape in front view of the meter is provided to be fit into the front end portion of the light guiding member 600.
With the above configuration, the manner of visually recognizing the light emitting member 700 differs between the case of turning off the light source 500 and that of turning on the light source 500. That is, in the case of turning off the light source 500, the light emitting member 700 can visually be recognized as a virtual image. On the other hand, in the case of turning on the light source 500, light irradiated from the light source 500 is substantially totally reflected on the reflecting surface 600S to the inside of the meter. Thus, the light emitting member 700 emits light which is irradiated only in the direction of the line of sight of a driver. Consequently, the quality of the daytime appearance of the meter is good. Even in night, there is substantially no possibility of reflecting, from the front glass of each of the meters, light emitted from the front end portion of the light guiding member 600. In addition, increase of the number of components can be suppressed. The flexibility of setting the arrangement of a meter device can be enhanced. The above techniques are disclosed in PTL 1.